History Series / TheElectricCompany

* ArtisticLicenseGrography: PlayedWith and subverted in an animated {{Western}} parody that takes place in Or, Utah

** In an animated ChickenLittle parody, the [[TheSkyIsFalling iconic phrase]] appears on the top of the screen and the wolf (wearing a suit) thinks he has dinner when the sentence ''falls'' on him, [[LaserGuidedKarma sending him to the ground.]]
** In a {{Western}} skit, a cowboy (Jim Boyd) was constantly annoyed by a ''sentence'' in the air, to the point of pushing him as it made slide whistle sounds. "My Name is Kathy" - a subverted BadassCreed [[BrickJoke named after a Short Circus song]] - taunted the cowboy into a fight. The sentence won as the cowboy merely vanished. After one last whoop from the victorious sentence came the cowboy's voice: [[AnAesop "Weeelll, you can't win'em all!"]]

->''"[[PunctuatedForEmphasis Hey you GUUUUUUYYYYYYS!]]"''

** Fargo North appears to have been based on PeterSellers' Inspector Clouseau, although the voice is more of a rip-off of [[Series/GetSmart Maxwell Smart]]. (Skip Hinnant admitted this was on purpose in the PBS pledge drive special ''The Electric Company's Greatest Hits and Bits''.)

* FunnyForeigner: With his Anthony Quinn-like ability to do a plethora of accents, Luis Avalos frequently played this. Also, Skip Hinnant sometimes did mangled British accents.

* LastSecondWordSwap: In the "Menu song" sketch, a waitress (Rita Moreno) sings the various types of soup, sandwich, salad, and ice cream on the menu to a customer (Creator/MorganFreeman). At the end of the list of ice creams, she lists sarsaparilla, manzanilla, caterpillar, and plain old-fashioned... gorilla. The customer, who was clearly expecting the last flavour to be vanilla, gives up and goes to the laundry across the road for a bowl of soap flakes.

** Whenever Letterman would come in to save the day, Joan Rivers would make a speech reminiscent of one used for ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''.

* ThemeTuneExtended: Friday shows featured the instrumental theme in full, along with a credits roll. Viewers only heard part of the theme during the corporate sponsor announcements.

* WhoWritesThisCrap: The CatchPhrase "Who's the dummy writing this show?"

* WithCatlikeTread: In "O-U (The Hound Song)", a hound sings very loudly about how he dare not make a sound.

* TheCameo: Many celebrities pop up for a segment, including JimmyFallon and WhoopiGoldberg.

** Live: two words: [[DrivesLikeCrazy "Swerve, Sweeney!"]]

--> '''Skip Hinnant's voice:'' Taxi! Oh, taxi! ({{Beat}}) ''(sigh)'' They never stop when you want them!"

*** '''Skip Hinnant's voice:'' Taxi! Oh, taxi! ({{Beat}}) ''(sigh)'' They never stop when you want them!"

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: In illustrating the "fr" consonant blend, the word "A''fr''o" was sometimes used.

** In a courtroom sketech, the participants rap a snippet of [[RowanAndMartinsLaughIn "Here Comes the Judge"]]

* ParentalBonus

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Check out Rita Moreno performing "Wild," complete with VictoriasSecretCompartment.

* BedsheetGhost: MorganFreeman and Hattie Winston play a couple trying to sleep. The husband is spooked by weird noises, while the wife is non-plussed. Ultimately, he is kicked, and becomes frightened by a very polite ''visitor'' who apologizes for it and even turns off the electric lamp ''with his breath.'' Morgan Freeman is on the verge of {{Fainting}} as this happens!

* ButtMonkey: J. Arthur Crank was usually this. Actually, many of Jim Boyd's characters were this too.

** [[WhoWritesThisCrap "Who's the dummy writing this show?"]]

* ComedicSociopathy: The Corsican Twins

* GeniusDitz: Fargo North is a skilled decoder (though it sometimes takes him a few wrong guesses to arrive at the correct answer), but is otherwise a complete space cadet. After helping Alison (Denise Nickerson) establish that the message "Your desk is on fire" should end with an exclamation point, his reaction to the news that the message is for him is to chuckle as he bids her farewell, then phone the fire department and engage in small talk for a while before finally divulging the reason he has called: "MY DESK IS ON FIRE!"

* LiveActionAdaptation: Probably the UrExample for this trope relative to WesternAnimation, as it occasionally remade its own animated sequences into live-action skits, sometimes {{Lampshading}} and [[TheParody Parodying]] the original. Either way, HilarityEnsues.

[[caption-width-right:340:"We're gonna turn it on, we're gonna bring you the power!"]]

The cast was made up of a diverse group of performers such as Rita Moreno, who was already a well-known actress in her own right. Creator/BillCosby was a cast member in Season 1, and "The Adventures of Letterman" shorts featured the voices of GeneWilder, Zero Mostel, and Joan Rivers. But most notable was a young and then-unknown MorganFreeman, who played Easy Reader ([[OldShame and has been trying to live it down ever since]]). Other cast members included Skip Hinnant (best known as the voice of ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat''), Judy Graubart (a member of the improvisational comedy troupe ''The Second City''), Luis Avalos, Jim Boyd, Hattie Winston, and Lee Chamberlin. In addition to the adult cast, there was a FakeBand called the Short Circus, which consisted of 11- to 17-year-olds; [[TwoFirstNames June Angela]] was the only member of the Short Circus to stay the whole series' run. Other notable members included Irene Cara, later to become a hit-making solo artist; Todd Graff, brother of ''Mr. Belvedere'' actress Ilene Graff, and Denise Nickerson, at the time known for playing Violet Beauregarde in ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory''.

* CelebrityParadox: In a "Spidey Super Stories" segment, Spider-Man sits in front of a TV to watch his favorite show: TheElectricCompany.

* CrossOver: Big Bird, Grover and Oscar the Grouch from ''Series/SesameStreet'' all paid visits in separate episodes.

* DrivenToMadness: The "sweet rolls" sketch and its [[LiveActionAdaptation Live Action Adaptations]]

** A puppet chicken named Lorelai (voiced by Jim Boyd, who was mostly off-screen that season)
** In the earliest episodes, uncredited children were in some skits, a la SesameStreet.

* EducationalSong: Using GenreRoulette

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Check out Rita Moreno performing "Wild," complete with VictoriasSecretCompartment

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Fargo North appears to have been based on PeterSellers' Inspector Clouseau, although the voice is more of a rip-off of [[Series/GetSmart Maxwell Smart]]. (Skip Hinnant admitted this was on purpose in the PBS pledge drive special ''The Electric Company's Greatest Hits and Bits''.)

-->Rinky-dink-dink
-->Three men in a sink
-->The butcher, the baker, and Freddy the fink
-->Fred gave a tug and pulled out the plug
-->And I think that sink will soon sink

* ShoutOut: Whenever Letterman would come in to save the day, Joan Rivers would make a speech reminiscent of one used for ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''.
-->Faster than a rolling O! Stronger than silent E! Able to leap Capital T in a single bound! It's a word, it's a plan, it's Letterman!

** In an animated segment, a Music/FatsDomino {{Expy}} cat [[CoverVersion does a jazzy soul take]] on "Hey Diddle Diddle," with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a cat playing the fiddle.]] ** "Rub-a-Dub-Dub" was remade as: